Robert Wise

The Set-Up

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Robert Ryan's Stoker on the canvas

Here’s the set-up to 1949’s The Set-Up. On one side Stoker, an ageing boxer convinced he has one more shot at glory. On the other Tiger, an upcoming young fighter in the pocket of a local gang boss. The boss, via an intermediary, asks/commands Tiny, Stoker’s manager/trainer, to get Stoker to throw the fight. Tiny is convinced Stoker will go down anyway so he doesn’t bother to pass on the message that Stoker is to take a dive in the third. Tiny is not just a coward – he avoids an awkward confrontation with Stoker – this way he also doesn’t have to share any of the sweetener with his boy. The Set-Up is … Read more

Odds Against Tomorrow

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Slater (Robert Ryan) and Ingram (Harry Belafonte)

There are a lot of ways of approaching 1959’s Odds Against Tomorrow. It’s that sort of film. But let’s be boring and approach it from the usual angle and say it’s the first film noir with a black lead actor in it. It’s Harry Belafonte, whose HarBel company also produced it, and he plays one of three men involved in a bank job. Ed Begley plays the organising force, an ex cop called Burke hoping the job will plug the gap where his pension would have been if he hadn’t been been the fall guy in some police corruption scandal. Robert Ryan is Slater, the ex soldier whose anger issues are partly down … Read more